From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol II. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
October 28.—Yesterday the great and important event of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his whole army, to the combined forces commanded by his Excellency GENERAL WASHINGTON, was celebrated at Trenton, in New Jersey, with every mark of joy and festivity. The day was ushered in with the beating of drums, and the American colors were displayed in various parts of the town. At eleven o’clock in the forenoon, his Excellency the governor, the Honorable the Council and Assembly, with the inhabitants of the town and vicinity, attended divine service at the Presbyterian church, where a discourse adapted to the occasion was delivered by the Reverend Mr. Spencer.
At noon a proper discharge of cannon was fired by the corps of artillery belonging to the town, in the presence of the governor, General Dickinson, the members of the Legislature, and the gentlemen of the town and neighborhood, assembled on the common.
At three in the afternoon the company repaired to an elegant entertainment, at which the following toasts were drank, and severally accompanied with a discharge of artillery:—
1, The United States of America; 2. The Congress; 3. The king of France; 4. General Washington and the American army; 5. The Count de Rochambeau and the French army; 6. The Count de Grasse and the French fleet; 7. General Greene and the Southern army; 8. The friends of liberty throughout the world; 9. The memory of Generals Warren, Montgomery, and all the other heroes who have fallen in the defence of the liberties of America; 10. Peace on honorable terms, or war forever; 11. The great and heroic Hyder Ali, raised up by Providence to avenge the numberless cruelties perpetrated by the English on his unoffending countrymen, and to check the insolence and reduce the power of Britain in the East Indies;1 12. The governor and State of New Jersey; 13. The glorious 19th of October, 1781. At seven in the evening the company retired, and the rejoicings were concluded by a brilliant illumination. Every thing was conducted with the greatest good order and propriety, and we mention it with pleasure, that not the least disturbance or irregularity happened during the whole festivity. What greatly added also to the joy inspired by this glorious event, was the pleasing recollection of the advantages already reaped from our alliance with that magnanimous Prince, whose troops have had so great a share in executing the important enterprise, an alliance now more firmly cemented by the united effusion of French and American blood, in a conquest the more agreeable to both nations, for being obtained by their combined efforts as fellow-soldiers and fellow-victors in the same triumphant cause.2
1 The accounts of the success of Hyder Ali in the East Indies, arrived in America on the 23d of August, 1781.
2 New Jersey Gazette, October 31. The celebration of this event took place at Princeton, New Jersey, October 23; at Albany, New York, November 3; and at Paxton, Pennsylvania, October 27.